Let's handicap the Mountain West race, shall we? Fresno is a huge favorite to win the West division, even with a classic Fresno chokejob against someone like, say, San Diego State. Only three teams total in the West are conference-undefeated, and one of those teams is UNLV. No offense, UNLV. (But kind of some offense.)
The Mountain division could have only two conference-undefeateds by Sunday morning if the Broncos make good as seven-point favorites. Are Wyoming and Colorado State serious contenders? Maybe so and probably not. Wyoming would be more of a contender if it hadn't lost to Texas State. The Cowboys are a darkhorse, New Mexico is a spoiler, we'll know more about Utah State on Saturday, and poor, poor Air Force. Boise State is the favorite here, coming from a Boise State fan.
Recap: Conference play begins in earnest this week. Wouldn't want to be Earnest.
Remembering last week
Recap: While the Chuckie Keeton All-Stars were losing their Chuckie Keeton, the San Diego State Aztecs were beating Nevada 51-44 in overtime, and everyone else was on a bye pretty much.
Weekly Awards
Team of the Week
Though it burns me to praise anything Fresno State, I have to hand it to the Bulldogs this week for how they handed it to the Vandals last week. Fresno put a 60-burger - one of my favorite burgers - on Idaho and refused to call off the dogs after going up 47-0 at halftime. In the beautiful words of Tim DeRuyter:
We're gonna score 100.
Presumably DeRuyter wanted one-hundo because Idaho coach Paul Petrino called for his Vandal players to hit Derek Carr late, ... aaaaand now I kind of see why Chris Petersen doesn't want to play Idaho anymore.
Player of Last Week (PLOW)
(note: I am bad at acronyms.)
Fresno's Davante Adams had 13 catches, 176 yards, and three touchdowns in the first half against Idaho because the Vandals chose to single cover him and double cover the quarterback sneak. Never let a quarterback sneak beat you, is not a good football strategy.
This Week's Game of the Week of the Century
Boise State @ Utah State
The Week Seven Mountain West schedule is all conference games, and the best of the bunch is Saturday night's showdown between the Broncos and Aggies. Winner gets the lead for the Mountain West Mountain division, and boy doesn't Mountain West Mountain sound weird to say.
The other games of the week
Thursday night special: San Diego State @ Air Force
Saturday night not-that-special: Hawaii @ UNLV
Misc. games:
- New Mexico @ Wyoming
- San Jose State @ Colorado State
What the Gamecube says
At the request of nobody, I will be simulating the 2013 college football season using the best technology I have available: NCAA 08, the one with Zabransky on the cover. Expect to get some tasty nuggets of wisdom from this exercise.
In my sim of the Boise State - Utah State game, Ian Johnson had 300 yards, and Jared Zabransky did something similar to this to a poor USU defender.
Oxymoronic Mountain West Power Poll
- Fresno State
- Boise State
- Utah State
- Wyoming
- San Diego State
- Nevada
- San Jose State
- UNLV
- New Mexico
- Colorado State
- Hawaii
- Air Force
Vandal Rankings
1. Gunderic the Vandal King
2. Attilla the Hun
99,000. These guys
Sandal Rankings
1. Sandals, Jamaica
2. Rainbow® sandals
3. Sanuk sandals
4. Reef sandals
5. Birkenstocks
6. Old Navy flip-flops
Candle Rankings
1. Yankee
2. Scentsy
3. Advent
Scandal Rankings
1. Watergate
2. Spygate
5 million. Couchgate
Randal Rankings
1. Cunningham
2. McDaniel
3. McNalley (friends call him Rand)